News Bytes

Emigration museum in Hamburg, Germany opened
At the beginning of July, the Hamburg Emigration Museum BallinStadt was opened on Veddel Island in the Elbe river. Where once was the historic emigrant city set up by the HAPAG shipping company under its president Albert Ballin between 1898 and 1901 and expanded in 1906/07, a new attraction for tourists from Germany, Europe and America is being created. BallinStadt commemorates the stories of over five million people who left their homes between 1850 and 1934 to leave for America via Hamburg to start a new life there. The BallinStadt Emigration Museum Hamburg provides insight into the mass phenomenon of emigration, covering all the stages from departure to arrival. Apart from the different stages of departure and passage, it also includes the reasons for leaving in the first place and what became of the people after their arrival in New York. The interactive edutainment exhibition gives visitors the chance of getting into the former and present-day aspects of emigration. Visitors will also be able to become emigrants themselves with a an innovative technique that will allow them to follow their own path of emigration. Find detailed information on www.ballinstadt.de.

Demand for biofuel is driving up milk price
The connection between the high demand for biofuel and exploding ice cream prices might seem a little far-fetched - however, it isn't. Due to the bioethanol boom in the US, the price for corn, which is the base material for biofuels, increased rapidly, as the Times reported. It almost doubled over the period of one year. That's why milk prices also rocketed, because cows mainly eat corn. And that, in turn, is why ice cream producers now have to demand a higher price for their products. The ice cream of Amy Green's famous Ivanna Cone in Nebraska has already become more expensive. Instead of $2.95 before tax, one cone now costs $3.50. However, not only the ecological conscience of car drivers was responsible for rising milk prices, the article continues. Also the increased demand for dairy products in China and the Middle East as well as the unusual drought in Australia had an impact on the development. And, of course, not only ice cream producers are affected, but in fact all food producers that use dairy products. So, also pizza bakers and chocolate producers suffer because of the increase in prices. Read more on www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,494806,00.html (in German).